Pokémon Sun/Moon (Part 2)

Pokémon Sun/Moon: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5 – Part 6

Pokémon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon : Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4

Are we finally going to our first trial?

Verdant Cavern

The epitome of posturing to look tough, but being pitiful
instead. And at the amount of posturing these idiots do...

At Hau'oli's pier we meet Ilima, but we’re interrupted by members of the local criminals: Team Skull! These guys sport bandanas and wear clothes that makes them look like, well, skulls. They throw their hands around as if they couldn’t settle on a single gang sign, so they’re just tossing them all at once. Full disclosure, most encounters with them are minor and not worth mentioning every single time. Occasionally, they serve to introduce other NPCs (such as Faba or Hapu), but that's about it – so I won't go over every single appearance. These reviews are long enough as is!

Ilima fights one, Nic fights the other. The defeated grunts flee like cowards. As thanks, Ilima heals the Trainer’s Pokémon. After which, he challenges the trainer to a battle, and upon defeat, invites him to Verdant Cavern for the island trial.

Ohh, ohh, ohh, Ilima's Smeargle is gonna paint at me.

Inspect Dens to lure out Yungoos (or Rattata), battle them,
access the Totem. Get unlikely help from the Skull losers.

Nic travels up Route 2, passing by a motel and the Hau’oli Cemetery, then finally, the cavern's entrance. Ilima explains the trial: Nic must defeat three Pokémon that will jump out of their dens, then collect the Z-Crystal on the pedestal at the end. Careful, though; a Totem Pokémon, larger and tougher than the others, may be guarding it. This first trial needs to show how different it can be from the gym battles we’ve seen in every other Generation. The solution? Have a bit of everything. Battle wild Pokémon (which you’re not allowed to catch during the trial, but you can return afterwards), explore or investigate areas, complete quests, answer trivia questions. Most trials end with a fight against a Totem Pokémon and you obtain a type-specific Z-Crystal as a reward; Nic gets a Normalium Z here, but he has to battle a large Gumshoos (in Sun) or Alolan Raticate (in Moon) for it. Totem Pokémon have an aura providing stat boosts to make them into “bosses” at the end of these trials. Totem Pokémon will always call allies.

Almost 10 years later, I still freaking hate this thing's
design. I just do.

As you can see, I occasionally squeeze the bottom screen of
the 3DS somewhere when relevant. I think it would help
to show it once in a while, since interesting stuff often
happens there. Here, you can see the ally Yungoos on the
bottom screen alongside the Totem Gumshoos.

SOS Battles are a new feature of S/M/US/UM. A Pokémon can call for help, if it doesn’t already have an ally. The call can be unsuccessful. When an ally shows up, it will usually be of the caller’s evolutionary family. On some occasions, a different Pokémon can show up. Some species in Alola can only be encountered when called as allies in SOS Battles (ex. Mareanie only appear when called by wild Corsola). You can later force SOS Battles thanks to Adrenaline Orbs; those make wild Pokémon nervous and prone to calling. SOS Battles are an excellent mechanic, so good that it should have come back in later Gens! Alas, looks like it’s going to be limited to Alola…

Z-Crystal get!

You've never seen a Munchlax run this fast.

The Gumshoos or Raticate is defeated, and we’re given the Normalium Z as a reward. To use a Z-Crystal, the player character does moves with their body after you select the move you want to use the power boost on in the attack menu. A Pokémon needs to hold the Z-Crystal to use it, thus it cannot hold another item, creating a risk/reward dynamic. Do you put it on a strong Pokémon to tear through tough enemies, or will you prefer to equip that Pokémon with a more useful item instead?

Ilima congratulates Nic on his victory, then allows him to go through the barricades, towards Route 3.

Against Kahuna Hala

It's always fun to see species return in a new installment.
I did wish there were more, though.

Or we can walk back to the Cavern and catch more Pokémon. There’s Yungoos, but you can find Zubat and Diglett as well. Since I’m covering both S/M and US/UM, I’ll bring up similar points at similar times. Example: In previous Pokémon reviews, I’ve talked about how my favorite aspect of the franchise is collecting. When a Regional Dex is lacking, I’m disappointed. These worlds thrive by the diversity of the creatures you can find. The regional dex of Alola in Sun and Moon is comprised of only 302 Pokémon, or not even 40% of the existing species. Talk about a letdown. It’s not that it’s not a lot, but… in several areas, it feels like there could be more to be found. Game Freak heard that critique and boosted the Ultra games’ regional Dex by an extra 101 species.

I do love that we now see the Trainers within the battle.
I guess we had to, since the player and some NPCs have
access to Z-Power and need to show it on screen.

I’m not going to say that Sun and Moon feel like betas of actual Pokémon games. Compared to issues we’ve had with Pokémon games these past few years (looking at you, Gen 4 remakes and mainline Gen 9 titles, both of which needed major post-release patches to solve blatant problems), Sun and Moon are perfectly serviceable and functional. But they were massively overshadowed a mere year later by their Ultra rereleases. They feel lacking in content in comparison, creating an impression that there was a hurry to get these out, because the first games of a new Gen MUST come out every three years like clockwork. The result is a full story, sure, but there’s so much that could have been added to, well, everything, as proven twelve months later. No wonder I largely preferred the Ultra games.

I do like when we get to see the Trainer and they're shown
giving their Pokémon commands. Makes the battle feel real.

We stop by the meadow, where we meet with Lillie. Nebby has crossed the meadow, so it’s up to a Trainer – us – to brave the wild Pokémon and rescue him. Again. And we battle Hau again outside of the cave. The trial on Melemele has been cleared, so it’s time for the grand trial – a battle against the island kahuna. Nic goes down Route 3, back to Iki Town, squares up against Hala, who uses fighting-type Pokémon. As a reward, we obtain the Fightinium Z and the stamp in our passport. We can leave at last!

Tauros really are hardheaded creatures. Look at how easily
they tear through rocks.

Even better: We’re given a Pager allowing us to call Ride Pokémon. The Tauros that’s been blocking our way through the whole island has grown fond of Nic and agrees to being ridden by the young Trainer. Tauros is a quicker mode of transportation, and its charge is powerful enough to break through rocks in the way! We can use this to find secrets. Poké Rides are a new feature of Gen 7. Previous Gens required the use of Hidden Machines (HMs), special moves with overworld effects, to progress. You obtained HMs at specific moments of the story. However, this meant that your party needed a Pokémon for every necessary HM, several of which sucked in battle. Cut, Strength, Flash, Rock Smash, and so on. With Poké Rides, you no longer need HM slaves to cross whatever dungeons are in your path! The rides are so fun to use, too.

Nic is approached by Lillie who wants someone to help get Nebby back to its true home, and he agrees. She'll travel along! The newly acquired Ride opens new areas of Melemele, such as Ten Carat Hill. Nic can keep exploring the first island, or he can go down to the marina and take Kukui’s boat towards Akala Island.

Finally!!

Hau's joy is such a treat. Nothing can bring this guy down.

...really? I could literally just walk by. And nobody gets
blocked out of the way when I am on that damn dog.

After a cutscene of our characters on the professor’s trusty boat, we arrive on the second island. We are greeted by Olivia, Akala’s kahuna, and Mallow, a trial captain. This island has three trials, each of which involves a starter Pokémon’s basic type: Water, Fire and Grass. The Rotom Dex splits its entries into 4 sections, one for each island, and it unlocks the Akala one. Lillie has to meet someone at the Tide Song Hotel nearby. It would be rude to intrude, we’ll keep going with our journey and- What? Some dude on a Stoutland is blocking the entire goddamn road, because his giant dog is searching for hidden items?

UGH, the progress gates in these games! And yes, these roadblocks return in the Ultra versions. I get it, the game doesn’t want us to miss any important plot details. But the ways in which the road gets blocked is just ridiculous. Fine, we’ll stay in Heahea City and visit the hotel.

What? Just two professor's assistants on holiday.
.....I ship it.

Nic runs into Dexio and Sina, two characters introduced in Pokémon X and Y who are Professor Sycamore’s assistants. Upon noticing that the player has a Z-Ring, Dexio challenges the player. Proving his worth, Nic is gifted a weird box. It’s a Zygarde Cube, which will allow him to pick up Zygarde Cells and Cores he finds on his journey across Alola. (…Hey, Pokémon Z never happened in Gen 6, guess they just transferred the Zygarde side-quest over to Gen 7. Pokémon Legends: Z-A is coming out soon, too…) Nic even finds the first cell within Tide Song Hotel!

Not a Pokémon; just a teensy-tiny piece of one.

OK, so Stoutland's nose really IS good at finding items.
Not worth blocking the goddamn road for this, though!

Lillie missed her meeting but stays at the hotel. We have a challenge to attend, and that’s after Route 4. This Route leads to Paniola Town and its famed ranch. Nic runs into Hau, who has been gifted his own Z-Ring, and battles his rival to test it out. The fights against Hau are laughably easy so far, he has too few Pokémon for the point we’re at. We meet Mallow at the ranch, and she gives a new Poké Ride: Stoutland Search. Yep, exactly what the other guy was doing when blocking our way. Stoutland can be used like the Dowsing Machine or Itemfinder of past Gens to discover invisible, hidden objects. Mallow invites Nic to meet with Lana at Brooklet Hill, past Route 5, then leaves. We can stick around and explore the ranch, then move on.

One thing of interest here is the Pokémon Nursery, where you can deposit Pokémon, then retrieve them at the cost of 500 Pokédollars; unlike Day Cares, Pokémon left here do not earn Experience, but you can still leave two and pick up their eggs if they share an egg group and are of different genders. The road south is blocked by Sudowoodo (UGH, the progress gates!), so we’re forced north towards Route 5.

The thing with Type: Null was that it was a complete mystery.
Impossible to catch anywhere, never encountered before,
and here it is in some kid's possession, while it looks so
weird with mismatched parts. This thing is explained later,
but it leaves a great first impression.

Up there, Nic finds Hau being defeated by a mysterious blonde teen dressed in black working for Team Skull. He presents himself as Gladion and battles the protagonist. He doesn’t have much in the way of Pokémon, though the more notable member of his team is a bizarre thing called Type: Null. Not that it’s much of a match against a full party. Gladion leaves with other Team Skull Grunts, who belittle him for being nothing more than hired muscle for their group.

Water and Royal

I love the costume our Trainer puts on when getting onto
a Poké Ride.

There’s a Pokémon Center down Route 5, and then it’s Brooklet Hill, where Trial Captain Lana awaits to introduce the challengers to the Water-type trial. The captain tells Nic to investigate spots of splashing water. It could be drowning swimmers! She gives him the Ride Pager for Lapras, replacing the Surf HM. The Pokémon we encounter this way are the diminutive Wishiwashi, the Pokémon with the lowest base stat total. This was an amuse-bouche for the real trial, where tons of Wishiwashi combine together and bust out of the water as the massive, scary and powerful School Form.

We're gonna need a bigger... uh... Lapras.

Zap 'em good, my Pika buddy!

It's a tough battle due to the Schooling ability, but if Wishiwashi's HP falls below 25%, it reverts to its weak Solo Form. Its pure Water typing is easy to counter. However, it can call small Wishiwashi for help, holds a Berry, and has options for healing, so it’s a threat. Still, it goes down, and for our troubles, we earn from Lana the Waterium Z-Crystal. And a fishing rod, so we can fish! (…but not anywhere; nah, just in specific rocky spots in the water.)

Meanwhile, I bet Gladion is all "What the Hell am I getting
dragged into, can't I just mope on my own?"

Nic scares away the Sudowoodo blocking Route 6 and moves. This leads to Royal Avenue, an area dedicated to a new type of Pokémon fight: Battle Royal (no e), where four Trainers duke it out. Entering the arena, Nic is greeted by a shirtless guy in a luchador mask, that’s totally Kuku- I mean, that’s totally NOT Professor Kukui, but rather the mysterious Masked Royal, who explains this new feature. Each Trainer walks in with three Pokémon; but it’s not a complete elimination game, as the battle ends when one Trainer no longer has Pokémon to battle with. The winner is the player with the most points in both remaining Pokémon and opponents that they knocked out. Kuku- I mean, the Royal then pulls Nic, Hau and Gladion (who was totally not here to brood all alone like an edgy teen) into a first fight that serves as a tutorial.

Okay, which one do I tear down first...

I think the concept of Battle Royal is interesting, as you can't prepare for three opponents at once, so there's decent complexity and depth to be found in there; but I feel like battles are really cut short if they end as soon as one player loses their last Pokémon. Wouldn't it have been better if there was an elimination game, the battle going on until only one Trainer is standing?

e got two more trials on this island, so maybe we should continue this in Part 3.